October 23, 2016 — Last week, they announced the nominees for the 2017 Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction. The list is to be narrowed to five before the ceremony in 2017 and includes many non-rock performers, something for another discussion, as well as rock veterans. Billboard lists the bands and artists, handicapping them with odds. They are:
Bad Brains: 20 to 1
Depeche Mode: 18 to 1
Joe Tex: 15 to 1
J. Geils Band: 12 to 1
Journey: 10 to 1
Steppenwolf: 10 to 1
Chaka Khan: 8 to 1
Kraftwerk: 6 to 1
The Zombies: 5 to 1
Chic: 5 to 1
Joan Baez: 5 to 1
The Cars: 4 to 1
MC5: 4 to 1
Yes: 3 to 1
Janet Jackson: 2 to 1
Electric Light Orchestra: 2 to 1
Tupac Shajur: Even
Pearl Jam: Even
That order pretty much tells you how it’s going to go down. It’s going to be Pearl Jam for the win, but personally I would like to see it turn out to be Journey, if only to see what they do with Steve Perry, or I suppose, what Steve Perry does with them. Oh and Journey was my first front row experience, so I’ll always have a soft spot for them. Yes, yes, no accounting for taste, I know.
Drama of old-school music aside … because I am more about the new these days, what I personally noticed this week was that my girlies were everywhere! A preface to all this, someday I’m going to feature the Rush 40th anniversary project, but the thought of doing that justice to this site’s Rush supporters is a dauntingly scary thing! Okay, that said, … on to my girlies.
The Taylor Momsen fronted band The Pretty Reckless released their third studio album, following up the relative (for rock standards) success of their 2013 album Going to Hell, and 2014 tour of the same name. The current album’s 12 songs are more album rock than those from the previous album, although I hear single potential in Mad Love, which has the sound of many so-called alternative rocks songs of late, and perhaps the song Oh My God. Throughout, I hear much more in the way of guitar solos, often with a rather Hendrix-like sound. I’m not sure the pedal, but I think it’s a new thing, some good, some a bit much for me, but that’s okay. I like the mix of acoustic guitar in the mid-section of the album. There’s a surprisingly R&B Sly and the Family Stone vibe to the song Wild City, some sad lyrics too: the city ain’t no place for a lonely girl. Taylor uses double tracking on her voice in places too. I think that will grow on me, not sure though. I like the first song, The Walls are Closing In.
I like the silly get your shit together line at the beginning. I like the piano going into something much more rocking, and Taylor’s voice is really nice. I think elsewhere, she does a bit too much scream-singing, a trademark of hers; my view, she has a good voice, so sing! Her lyrics seem a bit sad in places. She sings of being lost, of a world view that’s much different than before. It hurts to grow up. I think she has. Or perhaps she’s channeling her inner Lana del Rey.
Lana, speaking of Lana. I’m not sure if it’s accurate, but I came across another song they claim is (or is to be) on the soundtrack to the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel movie. I’m making fun of the title of this sequel, and I think just so I don’t have to look it up, I’ll use my version: Fifty Shades of More Grey, but really it’s Darker Grey, or something equally stupid. I think that movie, the first Grey movie, was silly. I saw one scene on HBO; I couldn’t make it past that scene. It’s the now version of that Kim Bassinger movie with the blindfold and the ice cubes, what was it… 9 1/2 Weeks? It’s housewife porn, I tell you, strange housewife porn that does nothing for me. Still, that movie gets lots of attention, so if it’s true, then Lana having a song for its soundtrack will be as good as Ellie Goulding having had the song Love Me Like You Do for the original Grey movie soundtrack. But better than that, I like this new Lana song, Roses. It’s super catchy, something not very …. Lana.
Just as the Pretty Reckless song The Walls are Closing In, Lana’s Roses starts with piano; that might be my thing this week, then goes into an house-inspired drum underlay. Lana sings faster and in a higher register than normal, but it’s still her lyrics, still the same mad-crazy Lana lyrics I just have to sing along to:
And then you buy me roses and it’s fine
I forgive you almost all the time ….
There’s no official video, and I can’t find the source of this song (to confirm or deny that it’s on the Grey-er soundtrack). I say that because there are many unreleased Lana del Rey songs that were leaked. I don’t think this is one; and if it’s true that it’s on the Darker Grey soundtrack, I don’t want the video to have that silliness in it. For a time I found a fan made video featuring Harley Quinn. Love her; loved that video, but I can’t find it now! And what is this stuff? Why is it that other girls out there like the same girls inspirations as I do? So odd!
There are other songs out as well, an EDM song by Calvin Harris song featuring his ex-gf Taylor Swift, a few actually, very ordinary, and I suppose I’m really hoping, someday, Taylor Swift goes back to her country roots. I really did like those songs. But it’s not looking that way as she also is doing collaborations with other DJs, Skrillex (Ellie Goulding’s one-time beaux) and Diplo (Katy Perry’s ex, who is now with Kate Hudson, so the all-knowing Internet says). Something tells me if Taylor swift wants to hang out with DJs, it looks like country music has forever lost her to the “scene”, a sad thing if you ask me.
Oh and there is also another song out, another EDM track allegedly featuring Lana, but I don’t think it’s actually Lana. I went all crazy nuts posting about it on Youtube, not wanting Lana to go that route, not thinking the autotuned mess sounded like her, and certainly not hearing her crazy nuts that she brings to the lyrics. There are people I hope I never lose to that music.
Still, the funny thing is my brief Youtube writing came full circle back to The Pretty Reckless. Apparently, you can message people in Youtube, and I got not one, but two, messages. They were invitations asking if I wanted to be in a band … uh huh, no joke… simply because I like The Pretty Reckless. I didn’t have the heart to give away my age, but oh to have been in a different time. I’d totally rock out that Roses song with some guitar track instead of whatever synth-keyboard thing is going on. Pigtails might even be appropriate, you know channel my inner Harley Quinn?
Hey I’m thinking that’s why they make blinds; I said blinds not blindfolds, people! Halloween! Harley Quinn costume. Gibson Flying V. Let’s see if I can learn Roses by then. I’ll put all my pets in rows as my audience! And in the meantime, while you guys think about who to vote for on that Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame thing, … I’ll turn up my girlies.